The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1887-01-22

XII
Day dawns-in the east is the flush Of the morn.
And westward the night on her pinions is borne;
There is beauty in forest, in meadow and field,
BY the twilight of that summer morning revealed
On the eastern horizon the sun is in sight,
In a silvery robe and halo oflight;
On the clouds that encircle the blue mountains
The first beams ofmorning respondent appear.
And they dart through che greenwood and dazzle
the eye
With the varied bright colors of rainbow on high;
The glittering rays through the spaces between
The green, dewy leaves on the branches are seen.
The world that was calm in her mighty rcposc
Is sprighuy and gay since the day-king arose;
Creations astiE, and alert is mankind,
Lies animate music is borne on thcwind.
And Nature her splendor and glory displays,
And her face is asmile with the days early rays.
And her hands are enwreathed with the midsum-
mer's bloom
That she scatters around in her own royal room.
And she is arrayed in the drap'ry Of light,
And the colors of roses, rich. varied and bright
The green of the leafet the gold of the wheat,
And the sparkle OF dewdropE bedecking her seat.
man! she invites thee to rest in her bowers,
And to breathe the perfume of her sweetseented
flowers;
But pause-little heed will be given to-day
To aught that is lovely in natures display
For on the great issue is centred all thought,
And the great tug of battle is yet to be fought;
Al! listen with eagerness, earnest, intense
For the onpninp they expect to commence.
,Mongst the rocks and the trees and the brush and
the vines,
There was fighting along the east wing Of the lines
The struggle continued with fierce, deadly fire,
Until Johnson's forces were seen to retire
Strife ceased for awhile from the right wing to left,
And neither the line of the otherhad cleft;
As if force were reserved for the climax of war,
There was a cessation of clangor and roar
Long long seem the hours as they pass one by one;
Towards its meridian is moving the sun;
IT'S noon-the great armies prepared for the fray,
Are confronting each other in hostile array
From the hiltops the great guns look angrily down
On the slopes the long rows of artillery frown;
Division and regiment, squadron, platoon,
Show flashes of steel in the sunlight of noon.
Sometimes in the summer the clouds darkly lower
Before there is lightning or thunder or shower;
There's an omnous calm, and the sky is o'ercast,
While yet there's no stir of the fierce tempest blast
0ppressivey sultry and hot is the air,
Then across the dark sky there's sudden bright
gSsre,
deafening peal and an echoing roar,
And the wind-guss arise and the rain torrents pour
Time heavily passes-'ts after the noon,
And the hand of the clock shows the hour OF one;
There's a signal-the sound thrills the country
around,
From the mountains the deep rumbling echoes re-
sound.
Hark bark what an uproar that breaks on the ear
Like the noise of a hurricane blast that is near
And the granite grit hills underneath seem to rock
As trent by an earthquake with violent shock.
IT'S crash as if earth felt the terrible throes
OF the coming of doomsday, the end o its woes;
For hundreds of cannon, all fiery their breath,
Belch out with their thunder the missiles of death.
The screech of the bombshell appallingly near,
The .-,ial of the iron bolt piercing the air,
The extent at lU-solid shot blowing the ground,
Areciate their true innlI blended sound
The fash ifssllsy red red the speesy - r5l
The crash of the metal is heasthlaS1 Gees, y
The rocks of hard granite to fragmeSs are crushed
The sun through the haze with red q bw siushed
The ridges, enveloped in smoke and in fame
A sight of sublimity awful became;
Cap'd with the war-cloud, extending for miles,
Whose fold upon fold great pyramid piles
A strong. vivid image the mind may assume,
Like to great conagrations that landscapes Hume
When fire on the timbers of great forests preys,
With fame, crackle sparks from devonring blaze.
- organized fre has PiarrsisOsias
Tremces 10 ,r--sions successfully seem
Like the burS ofvc ,anoes or geyser's hot stream.
The cry of the gunners who work with n will,
The neigh of the steed with aRoee wild and shrill,
The loud yell oftriumpby fhe curse of despair.
All these are comHjfn(ed and swell on the air.
l---ssl tool4
They stand to the guns. there's timidness there,
And the troops on each side well in courage COM
pare;
The bombs fall around like shower of stone
From the crater of Etna or Erebus thrown.
As soon as men fell there were others supplied:
The guns became hot still were piled each side:
Two hours it continued at that awful rate,
And then the great uproar began to abate.
IT'S ended-the roar of the great cannonade
Has lulled. and the list'ner to tremble is made;
And hope in his mind, and then wonder and fear
Have changed like the winds when around him
they veer.
The great elimination is nearing-the time
When the wartde rolls up to its full height sublime,
When Pickett with columns unbroken and wide,
Advances the flower of Yirginias pride.
The ranks on the borders of forest were seen
As they came into view from their covering green;
And the points of their bayonets glttered in light
Like the crystals of ice in a winter morn bright.
They appeared to the view with pompous parade
And with wars splendid equipage grandly dis,
played,
Dazzling the vision and awning the mind
Brilliant array-seenes alarming combined.
Thousands of soldiers in uniform dressed,
Thousands of infantry closely abreast;
The sabres were bright and the edges were keen.
The muskets were polished and bright was their
sheen.
Long lines of men in their clothing of gray
Across the wide valley were raking their way;
Long lines Of faces there sternly upturned
Showed the strong resolution within them that
burned.
The officer seen with the troops that he led
Was guiding the van with his sword point ahead;
Like cloud on the plain or a swell the sea
Came onward sublhnely the army of Lee
The war-steed was tossing his stately head higher.
With his name in the wind and his eye full of fire;
And there was the vetran, by fear never moved,
Who in aaeny battle his valor had proved.
The tramp tramp was heard more distinct by de-
grees
And the fiutter of banners unfurled to the breeze
And the humming Of voices in muttering tones,
Like thewind that in autumn through pine branches
means.
Magnificent spectacle There was beheld
A sight that all scenes m its grandeur excelled;
The splendor of battle unfolded to view
The terror of battle was rising anew
The shot through the columns raking the men,
And leaving wide gaps that soon closed again;
And nearer and nearer the ridge they approach
On the Federal line they begin to encroach.